excerpt

kitchen where she and Uncle Bill were finishing off the bottle of wine they had opened earlier in the day.
Rachael didn’t want to go to bed because she didn’t know what to do with Shirley. She knew she couldn’t keep her in the bed, as crowded as it was. She decided to wait until Lyssa and Lark had settled down, then she would find a place. In the meantime, she had to get out of the living room so she went to her room and sat on the floor on her side of the bed. In the glow from the small bedside lamp that she switched on, she looked down into Shirley’s face, patted the soft curls, and decided what she would do with the doll for the night.
Going to the corner of the wardrobe where her few clothes were kept, Rachael selected the soft blue cardigan that Auntie Tyne had bought for her, wrapped the doll in it, and laid it on the braided mat on the floor at the side of the bed where she slept. In this way, if she awoke during the night, she could easily reach over and pat Shirley’s head reassuringly. Rachael didn’t think she would sleep much anyway, such was her excitement.
She wished she could say thank you to the Cresswells for the doll and for Bobby’s truck. Although Auntie Tyne had said that Santa had dropped the gifts off at the farm, Rachael was old enough to know there was really no Santa Claus. But Bobby thought there was, so she certainly wouldn’t tell him. She just wished she had been nice to Auntie Tyne when she came here. She wanted to be, but she didn’t really know if she could trust her anymore, because Aunt Ruby said the Cresswells didn’t want her and Bobby. And Lyssa had said they had to go to an orphanage.
Rachael was sorry, too, that she had called her Mrs. Cresswell. She could see the hurt look on Auntie Tyne’s face. But Aunt Ruby had said they weren’t to call them aunt and uncle because they weren’t even related to them.
Lark came from the bathroom, dressed for bed and in bare feet. “Can I say good night to Shirley?”
Rachael held the doll up so that her cousin could touch and kiss it. “Good night, Shirley,” Lark whispered, then got into bed and nestled under the quilt.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/192676319X